Celebrate Bat Week

The last week of October is International Bat Week—a celebration of these fascinating and underappreciated mammals. Bats are essential to healthy ecosystems: they pollinate plants, disperse seeds, and eat thousands of insects each night, helping farms and forests thrive.

This year, we’re celebrating Bat Week a little early by spotlighting Dr. Kim Williams-Guillén, scientist, conservationist, regenerative farmer, and WCCD staff member. Kim will take the stage at Nerd Nite Ann Arbor on Thursday, October 9, to share “Bats of Wayne County.” Her talk explores how a local effort to protect an imperiled wetland grew into a regional research program using bats to help safeguard forests and wetlands across Southeast Michigan.

Kim’s work connects science, farming, and conservation. She has studied bats, primates, parrots, large predators, and sea turtles throughout Central America, focusing on how agriculture and food systems affect wildlife. Today she supports Michigan farmers transitioning to organic production through the USDA’s Transition to Organic Partnership Program (TOPP).

Learn more and join the fun at annarbor.nerdnite.com.

How You Can Celebrate Bat Week

🦇 Watch The Invisible Mammal — a new documentary celebrating bats: theinvisiblemammal.com
🏡 Build or buy a bat house to create safe roosting space: batweek.org/make-bat-house
📍 Report local bat roosts through the Michigan DNR Bat Roost Monitoring Program

Bats, like the great false vampire bat of Central America, remind us that protecting habitat—from old trees to wetlands—is critical for biodiversity. By celebrating bats, we celebrate the health of our shared environment.

Learn more about International Bat Week at batweek.org.